Pop quiz, hot shot: you have the best player in all of baseball on your team, one year away from arbitration eligibility. If he hits arbitration he’s going to get insanely expensive because there literally are no comps for him in recent history. If he gets close to free agency, dudes, forget it, he’s making over $300 million. What do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?!

DiGiovanna says that the Angels may, as is their right with a pre-arbitration player, simply renew his deal with a raise set at their discretion. That’s what happened last year, giving Trout a salary far short of a million bucks despite an MVP-caliber season. It stings, but that’s the system. This year, however, it shouldn’t sting as the sides will be negotiating for that long-term deal simultaneously. Important to note that any such extension would most likely be announced on Opening Day or after. For if one is reached before then, his salary counts against the Angels’ salary figures for luxury tax/revenue sharing purposes in 2014, if announced after, it doesn’t count until 2015.

Trout’s first two full seasons are historically good. He’s hit .324/.416/.560 with 57 homers, 180 RBI and 82 stolen bases since the beginning of the 2012 season. Add elite defense and baserunning to that equation — and figure that he’s only 22 — and you have a recipe for the highest paid player in baseball sometime soon. If the Angels can lock him up through his arbitration years and for part of his free agency at a below market rate, they should do it immediately if not sooner.

” For if [a deal] is reached before then, his salary counts against the Angels’ salary figures for luxury tax/revenue sharing purposes in 2014, if announced after, it doesn’t count until 2015.”

Can somebody point me to the part of the CBA where it says that??? Everything I find in there (and there a lots of supporting clauses) says that the lux tax is calculated on everything spent from 12/2 of one year until 12/2 of the next year. I find zero exceptions in the CBA for money spent on a player who was signed after Opening Day.

That’s why everybody is so focused on there being some sort of advantage for so doing. And, I can assure you, being a Halo fan and living here right next to the stadium, this “advantage” is a big topic of discussion.

Adrastus Perkins - Feb 14, 2014 at 3:15 AM

You’re right that the luxury tax is calculated based upon everything spent from 12/2 of one year to the next. But just because a player signs a new contract within that timeframe doesn’t mean it applies to that specific luxury tax period.

Take Elvis Andrus, for instance. He signed his eight-year, $120 million extension last April, but he was already under contract through 2014. Since the new deal doesn’t kick in until 2015, it would make little sense to charge the Rangers for it when he agreed to the pact — that would essentially force them to pay for two contracts for the same player. Teams aren’t hit with the tax for a pact until it’s actually in effect.

And so it goes for Trout. He’ll have his 2014 salary in hand once the season begins, meaning that any extension will only apply to 2015 and beyond for payroll/tax purposes.

That point seems understandable, from a paperwork POV. But why wouldn’t an agent have the new contract cancel out the remaining terms of the existing contract? That way the current contract reaches milestones such as option years or conclusion that much sooner in order to allow the player back on the market a year younger?

Further, and especially with such a large anticipated contract, wouldn’t there be a signing bonus at least? Something to put windfall money into the player’s pocket immediately? It doesn’t makes sense that Trout might get a $10 million signing bonus but not get his hands on it until next year, while he plays this entire season for the paltry $500,000. If then, the signing bonus should count against the current payroll year, and a case could be made that the contract salary payments have started in the current payroll year, so the total contract value would be amortized over the entire period, starting this year.

P.S. – If it is that simple to sign a new contract that begins once the current contract ends with no penalty assigned until after the current contract expires, why could not such an appending contract have been signed already? Why is there a need to wait until after Opening Day itself?